Cities: Skylines and it's various expansion packs are the tale of an indie developer's dream to create a game that many would assume is impossible for a small group to work on. While it's a great game overall, it's not without it's faults.

PROS:

• From the creators of Cities in Motion, I present to you one of the most elegant transit construction systems in the game. The base game comes with buses, trains, subways (metros), boats, and airplanes. The expansions have added thus far streetcars (trams), taxis, and a variety of emergency air vehicles. The new Mass Transit expansion will add blimps, ferries, monorails, and aerial tramways (cable cars). Building and upgrading roads is a SNAP!
  
• Asset creators let you replace vehicles, buildings, and props... Resulting in a massive modding community for a variety of content... Some of it being made by yours truly.
  
• CUSTOM MAPS. Do you prefer a city by the bay or the little town in the valley. Are you a fan of small maps like me? The map creator is perhaps the most impressive tool in this game, as it allows you to create virtually any city you want.

CONS:

• From the creators of Cities in Motion, I present to you the most screwball vehicle pathfinding in the game. While buses and the other public vehicles seem pretty intelligent, it's the citizens who can't seem to figure out how to drive around town. Then again, this has been a problem that has plagued the city-builder since the days of 3D games.
  
• Zoning isn't quite as in-depth as I'd like it to be. Your zoning options are two densities of residential and retail (commercial), an industrial zone that can be specialized through the districts, and office zones. Even more bizarre is that for a European game, we didn't get a mixed zoning option.
  
• There's lots of content and complexity, but not so much depth. This is perhaps my biggest and most stark criticism of the game, in which I'll go in depth later on.

MEH:

• Load times are yes, the pain. But at the same time, load times can be taken care of by asset makers building more efficient content. It's mixed here, because some people may not even use mods.
  
• Sturgeon's Law applies to assets on the workshop. For every beautiful house or skyscraper, there's probably a handful of cheese-grater skyscrapers. This is only natural with creative things.
  
• Chirpy. Personally, I love him, and I think the chirper feature is funny... But you can easily remove him if you don't like him, he doesn't really affect the game.

OVERALL:
Many people often state that Cities: Skylines is the "real city-builder" to SimCity 2013... As some one who has played both games for a very long time, I honestly say they are two different games that show the ultimate problem of the city-building genre.

But as for Skylines, let's just say that it is ultimately the "City Painter" of the two. This is not in a mocking tone; with the variety of assets you can create/find as well with a few mods, you can create whatever city you can dream of. There are so many features and means to this game, it's surprising to see how such a small dev-team can pull it off. The large amount of space on the maps means you can create much more realistic cities, or simply opt to create several smaller towns spread across the region (as I do myself). You could even, with a mod, take a ride in a car and see your city from a citizen's point of view... That's how artistic and crafty this game is.

But it comes at a price... The overall depth really isn't there. While you do have some challenges and moments where the game does test you (Natural Disasters adds in some curve balls especially), there overall isn't going to be a lot that happens unless you get careless. There's no economic catastrophes, no global market where prices on oil can cause a crisis, and no real reward for educating citizens outside of cleaner factories... As far as "classic city-builder" goes, the game is just that, but if you want more depth and see the cause and effects of say, a casino opening up shop or what happens when housing is built down-wind from factories, the other city builder I mentioned does that better at the cost of content and some complexity. But alas, has there ever been a city-building game that truly focused on economic stability and social factors as opposed to growth and profit?

Ultimately, as a contributor to the workshop and a fan of city-builders, I recommend this game in the end despite not truly going as in-depth as I want it to. Yes, it's a bit pricey, but if you really want to build the biggest city imaginable or take a spin down your own highway through your very own take on Blade Runner's Los Angeles, this game will deliver on those goods. The dev team is committed to this game, and it has a very active group of players who create a variety of stuff everyday.

Cities: Skylines and it's various expansion packs are the tale of an indie developer's dream to create a game that many would assume is impossible for a small group to work on. While it's a great game overall, it's not without it's faults. [b]PROS:[/b][list] [*]From the creators of [i]Cities in Motion[/i], I present to you one of the most elegant transit construction systems in the game. The base game comes with buses, trains, subways (metros), boats, and airplanes. The expansions have added thus far streetcars (trams), taxis, and a variety of emergency air vehicles. The new Mass Transit expansion will add blimps, ferries, monorails, and aerial tramways (cable cars). Building and upgrading roads is a SNAP! [*]Asset creators let you replace vehicles, buildings, and props... Resulting in a massive modding community for a variety of content... Some of it being made by yours truly. [*]CUSTOM MAPS. Do you prefer a city by the bay or the little town in the valley. Are you a fan of small maps like me? The map creator is perhaps the most impressive tool in this game, as it allows you to create virtually any city you want. [/list] [b]CONS:[/b][list] [*]From the creators of [i]Cities in Motion[/i], I present to you the most screwball vehicle pathfinding in the game. While buses and the other public vehicles seem pretty intelligent, it's the citizens who can't seem to figure out how to drive around town. Then again, this has been a problem that has plagued the city-builder since the days of 3D games. [*]Zoning isn't quite as in-depth as I'd like it to be. Your zoning options are two densities of residential and retail (commercial), an industrial zone that can be specialized through the districts, and office zones. Even more bizarre is that for a European game, we didn't get a mixed zoning option. [*]There's lots of content and complexity, but not so much depth. This is perhaps my biggest and most stark criticism of the game, in which I'll go in depth later on. [/list] [b]MEH:[/b][list] [*]Load times are yes, the pain. But at the same time, load times can be taken care of by asset makers building more efficient content. It's mixed here, because some people may not even use mods. [*]Sturgeon's Law applies to assets on the workshop. For every beautiful house or skyscraper, there's probably a handful of cheese-grater skyscrapers. This is only natural with creative things. [*]Chirpy. Personally, I love him, and I think the chirper feature is funny... But you can easily remove him if you don't like him, he doesn't really affect the game. [/list] [b]OVERALL:[/b] Many people often state that Cities: Skylines is the "real city-builder" to SimCity 2013... As some one who has played both games for a very long time, I honestly say they are two different games that show the ultimate problem of the city-building genre. But as for Skylines, let's just say that it is ultimately the "City Painter" of the two. This is not in a mocking tone; with the variety of assets you can create/find as well with a few mods, you can create whatever city you can dream of. There are so many features and means to this game, it's surprising to see how such a small dev-team can pull it off. The large amount of space on the maps means you can create much more realistic cities, or simply opt to create several smaller towns spread across the region (as I do myself). You could even, with a mod, take a ride in a car and see your city from a citizen's point of view... That's how artistic and crafty this game is. But it comes at a price... The overall depth really isn't there. While you do have some challenges and moments where the game does test you (Natural Disasters adds in some curve balls especially), there overall isn't going to be a lot that happens unless you get careless. There's no economic catastrophes, no global market where prices on oil can cause a crisis, and no real reward for educating citizens outside of cleaner factories... As far as "classic city-builder" goes, the game is just that, but if you want more depth and see the cause and effects of say, a casino opening up shop or what happens when housing is built down-wind from factories, the other city builder I mentioned does that better at the cost of content and some complexity. But alas, has there ever been a city-building game that truly focused on economic stability and social factors as opposed to growth and profit? Ultimately, as a contributor to the workshop and a fan of city-builders, I recommend this game in the end despite not truly going as in-depth as I want it to. Yes, it's a bit pricey, but if you really want to build the biggest city imaginable or take a spin down your own highway through your very own take on Blade Runner's Los Angeles, this game will deliver on those goods. The dev team is committed to this game, and it has a very active group of players who create a variety of stuff everyday.